The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has revealed that the church walking away from politics is part of the problem of Nigeria today.
Peter Obi made this known on Tuesday 12th July, during the ongoing National Convention of the Assemblies of God Nigeria in Okpoto, Ebonyi State.
He stressed that the church has to talk about politics at some point because they are Nigerians and also share in the challenges that come with the choice of a leader.
“For me, I am sincerely grateful and appreciative of this opportunity, and like our father in faith has said, it is not a political rally, it should not be a political rally. I have said it, people should not go to the church or place of worship to discuss politics, but I also say to the church; do not walk away from politics." He said.
“The church walking away from politics is part of what we are suffering. The church members live in a nation. The sufferings that are going on today are AG members and church members. When you walk away from politics people suffer." He added.
“The church doesn’t have a place where their members buy food cheaper, do they have? do they have a place where their plane travel that other people don’t travel? Schools that are closed today, Universities that are closed today are unacceptable anywhere in the world, some are AG members, so the church can’t keep quiet. We’ve kept quiet enough, we cannot allow the situation we’ve found ourselves in Nigeria today where lunatics have taken over the asylum. Nigeria cannot continue the way it's going today and if not prayers, your prayer is you are not asking for anything more, you are asking just for good governance. You are asking for hope to build a place for your children. We want to give the children of this country hope, and where to live, we are not asking for more.
Obi revealed that all the young Nigerians are asking for is nothing but an opportunity to earn a living.
“We have 100 million Nigerians living in poverty, we have our young ones who have gone to school without jobs, without a future. They are not asking for anything, they want an opportunity to earn a living. It is not too much for their country to give them.
Peter Obi who said he is on a mission to sensitize and encourage people not to shy away from politics also said that he is not asking the church to vote for him, but asking them to sit down and scrutinise all those that are offering themselves for election, ask questions and verify them.
He said; “So, I’m going around asking people not to shy away from politics. We have an election coming up in 2023, Peter Obi is not asking you today to vote for Peter Obi. I am asking you to sit down and scrutinise all those that are offering themselves for election, put all of us on a scale, and let us know who we are. Let’s ask questions; who we are, let's verify who we are. It is important for you."
“Do not say because Peter Obi is from the East I will vote for him, do not vote for me because I am an Igbo man. Do not vote for anybody because he is from the west, do not vote for anybody because he is from the North. This is time to vote for a human being who has conscience and trust. So, if Peter Obi is not the one, if Peter Obi is not the one to be trusted, don’t vote for him. Don’t vote for him because he gave you money because he will steal your money." He added.
“You have seven months to ask questions; to ask, who is Peter Obi? Where did he go to school? who is his family? And those living with him, let’s verify who he is. Ask questions. Don’t listen to our grammar, don’t even look at our certificates. Yes, you can ask all the questions but remember that educational qualifications are not the measure of integrity. There are so many criminals who went to school, there are so many people who went to school who are criminals.
“This is time to ask about people's lifestyle, where they live, how they live, everything. That is what we need now. Don’t listen to our promises, ask questions, the ones we promised in the past how did we keep it.
“This country is not productive, we want to give people a job, people want to work. Today everybody is saying there is insecurity everywhere, these are caused by bad leadership. You can’t have 100million people who don’t know where their next meal will come from and you have security, no!
“Insecurity has been fought in other countries of the world, in South America, in Asia, the more you pull people out of poverty the more you reduce criminality. People’s businesses are collapsing, our children are not in school. For four months nobody cares about them because they are not children of politicians, our children are in school overseas, so those who are here cannot be in school. People are dying because there is no healthcare here.
“This is time to ask a question about all of us. I only ask for prayers, not prayers for me but prayers for Nigeria. Prayers that Nigeria does not make mistake in 2023, prayer that we start electing people with conscience, people with the fear of God. Everybody here is a child of God, Peter Obi is not better than anyone here. Whatever I have gotten is by His grace and nobody should abuse grace. In Nigeria, people are abusing the grace of God, and it has to stop.
“It is God that gave us power, gave us position to use it to serve humanity but we have used it to serve ourselves and that is what we need to question now. And like I said, do not listen to politicians including me talk, go and verify. We know how to speak sweet things, but go and verify from our homes, ask even our wives, his children who their father is, his relationship with his wife. These are very important.
The presidential aspirant further revealed that Nigeria is a blessed and fertile country but, has bad leaders. And asked them to pray to God for a good leader.
“Today is prayers, but, let me tell you what your prayers would be, as you go on now do not pray for Nigeria. Nigeria is one of the best places God created on the surface of the earth. Nigeria have 923000 square kilometres of land; fertile land and some other people don’t have it. Nigeria is 200million people but because of bad political leadership, it's unproductive. So, our total export last year is under $30 billion. All we do here is sharing and not be productive.
“A country like Vietnam is 33100 square kilometres, a third of Nigeria in size with 100million persons, half of Nigeria their total export last year is $312Billion. So, Nigeria couldn’t export 10 per cent of what Vietnam is exporting. It is not a first-world country. I have studied about 31 countries in the world and discovered that God blessed Nigeria. He gave them everything but gave them bad leadership and that cannot continue. That is why I said I’ll ask for special prayers. The prayer point will be God touch politicians, Peter Obi, everybody, let God touch their hearts to use public money for the public good. God bless all of you.”
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